This church is located near the Brighton community. I haven’t been able to locate any history, but this is obviously a newer structure. The earliest burial I found in the adjacent cemetery was 1908. The Tabor brothers, who died in the tragic Tift County bus crash of 1959, are also interred here.
Near the upper reaches of the Alapaha River, where Tift, Berrien, and Irwin Counties converge, (Ferry Lake Road, Five Bridge Road, and Turner Church Road) Turner Primitive Baptist Church was constituted on 14 June 1890. The present structure was built in 1915 and is lovingly maintained by the congregation. In addition to the vernacular church building, the adjacent cemetery contains quite a few vernacular memorials, some of which I’ve shared here, in no particular order.
Turner Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery
The vernacular memorials at Turner Primitive Baptist church are similar to others throughout the state in that they are highly vulnerable to environmental factors. Because they’re made of cement or concrete, sun, wind, and rain render them less readable over time and therefore, those they memorialize are in danger of being forgotten.
This is perhaps my favorite memorial in the cemetery. The shape is unusual and appears to be upside-down, though this is by design. I’ve seen this pattern before; it was likely set in a mold meant for another use. The name, and part of the birth date, have already become so obscure as to invite confusion.
This stenciled memorial is a common form, and like others, contains misspellings and grammatical issues. This is really what makes these markers interesting and important. Mrs. Rabon, a native of Lowndes County, was the wife of Daniel Jasper Rabon (1866-1939), who came to Georgia from Alabama. She was the daughter of W. A. and Martha Cobb Keel.
Mr. Walker’s memorial is also a typical form, with nice stenciling and a leaf or branch decoration.
Wooden markers were very common in rural cemeteries at one time, as it was often all that families could afford to mark the burial places of their loved ones. Unfortunately, very few can be identified.
There is a small section of these concrete tombs in Turner Primitive Baptist cemetery. Some have been damaged over the years.
This tomb-like memorial has been damaged. James Turner, son of Frank and Anna Turner. He married Anna McClelland in Tattnall County in 1823, and may have come to this area from there. may have come to the area from Tattnall County. At least two of his three sons served in the Civil War. One son, James S. Turner (1829-1904), was a prominent businessman in Jacksonville, who owned the Duval, one of the most prominent hotels in the city at the turn of the 20th century.
Carsia was the daughter of W. W. and Polly Ann Taylor, and died as a toddler.
Prominent architect T. F. Lockwood designed First Baptist Church in the Richardsonian Romanesque style. Henry Miller was the pastor at the time.
There have been numerous expansions to the original church over the years.
Tifton Commercial Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This was the first brick church built in Tifton, and served the congregation of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, for generations. When they moved to a larger facility in 1952, it served numerous congregations over the following years. The Tift County Development Authority purchased it in 1985, to protect it from vandals and deterioration. In 1997, the Tifton Council for the Arts saw an opportunity and renovated the church into a gallery space and cultural museum. It is now known as the Syd Blackmarr Arts Center.
Tifton Commercial Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
An effort to locate isolated Episcopalians in South Georgia during the 1890s saw the establishment of several congregations, including St. Anne’s in Tifton. Edmund Harding Tift, brother of Tifton’s founder, Captain Henry Harding Tift, was at the forefront of this effort. The Tift family were vastly successful in the shipbuilding and lumber industries and gave resources and labor to the construction of St. Anne’s, which began in March 1898. The Carpenter Gothic sanctuary is clad in curly pine.
By the early 1980s, the congregation was beginning to outgrow its historic home and with an eye on new construction, moved it to its present location from the corner of Central Avenue and 4th Street in 1982.
Replaced by a more modern church in 1985, “Little St. Anne’s”, as it’s affectionately known, is still used for various services.
Thanks to my former Young Harris College classmate Emily Guerry, who serves as Parish Administrator, for a delightful personal tour and history lesson.